Brothers, Arjuna, deluded by the
sense of ‘mine’
and ‘not mine’,
was seeking ways to evade swadharma when the situation
demanded adherence to it. The First Chapter describes his vain
delusion. The Second Chapter sets out to remove it. It states
three basic principles: the Self is imperishable and has an
all-encompassing presence, the body is transient and mortal,
and swadharma should never be given up. It also spells
out the idea of renunciation of the fruit of actions as a key to
realise these principles. While expounding this karmayoga,
three concepts have emerged—karma, vikarma and
akarma. In the Fifth Chapter, we have seen two types of
akarma which result from the confluence of karma and
vikarma. From the Sixth Chapter onwards different types
of vikarma are being explained. The Sixth Chapter tells
about one-pointedness of mind necessary for spiritual pursuit.

Today, we are going to deal with the
Seventh Chapter. This Chapter opens before us the gallery of a
magnificent new vikarma. Moving through the broad expanse of
a forest, the temple of the Goddess of nature, we are enthralled by
a great many captivating scenes. It is the same with the Gita. It
now unfolds before us a new vista.

Even before unfolding this vista,
the Lord reveals the secret of the structure of this world which
creates illusions. An artist paints a variety of pictures on the
same type of paper and with the same brush. A sitarist1 creates
different ragas2 out
of the same seven notes. In literature, a variety of thoughts,
ideas and feelings are expressed through a few letters of the
alphabet. Same is the case with the creation. We find in it
innumerable objects and propensities. But all of them are
products of only two things—the eternal Self and the eight-fold
prakriti.3The
anger of the angry man, the love of the lover, the agony of the
sufferer, the happiness of the happy one, the drowsiness of the
idler, the activity of the industrious man—all these are
manifestations of one and the same Cosmic energy. These
different emotions and urges, although they are often contrary
to each other, spring from the same source. As the Cosmic energy
within is one and the same in all, the outer bodily cover of all
is also the same in nature. The Lord is telling at the very
outset that the conscient Self and the inconscient prakriti
are the twin sources from which all creation has come
into being.

The Self and the body, the higher
and the lower prakriti
are the same everywhere.
Why shouldthen man be
deluded? Why should he see differences instead of unity? The face of
someone whom we love attracts us, whereas that of someone whom
we dislike is found repulsive; we desire to meet one person and
shun the other. Why is it so? Different pictures drawn by the
same artist with the same brush on the same paper evoke
different feelings. Therein lies the skill of the artist. The
artist and the sitarist have such a skill in their fingers that
they make you laugh or cry. In their fingers lies a magical
power.

We welcome someone while we shut the
door in the other’s face. We embrace someone and push away the
other. Such feelings arise in the mind and, at times, deflect us
from the path of duty. All this is because of delusion. If we are to
escape this, we should understand the secret of the creative skill
of the Creator’s fingers. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad gives the analogy
of a drum. A drum produces a variety of sounds. Some frighten us, some
make us dance. If we are not to be swayed this way or that and
remain in full control of all such emotions, we must catch hold of
the drummer. Then all the sounds of the drum would be under our
control. The Lord declares, “Those
who want to cross the riverof
maya should take refuge in Me.4”
In the words of Jnanadeva—

‘येथ
एक चि लीला तरले । जे सर्वभावें मज भजले ।

तयां ऐली चि
थडी सरलें । मायाजळ’
(7.97)

(‘Only
those who worship me single-mindedly and with unswerving devotion
can cross this river of maya. In fact, they need not have to
cross it at all; for them the water of maya dries up while
they are at this bank itself—that is, the mirage created by maya
disappears for them here and now.’)

What is this maya? It is the
Lord’s creative power, His art and His skill. He created this world
out of the single eternal Self and the eight-fold prakriti,
or what the Jain terminology calls jiva and ajiva. The
Lord has created this variegated world out of these two elements;
out of them He is ever creating all sorts of things. They evoke
different sentiments and responses. If we want to go beyond them and
attain true inner peace, we should reach out for the creator of them
all. We should know Him. Only then can we get rid of the delusion
that gives rise to divisions, antipathies and attachment.

In this Seventh Chapter, the way
of bhakti is laid open before us to tell us about a
singularly effective means, a
greatvikarma for
knowing Him. To attain
purity of mind, many vikarmas
like yajna (sacrifice), dana (sharing,
charity), japa (prayer, repeating God’s
Name), tapa (penance), dhyana-dharana (meditation
and concentration) are prescribed. I would liken them to washing
soda or soap, while bhakti is like water. Soap and
washing soda are useful only in conjunction with water; by
themselves they are of no use. Water, on the other hand, can
cleanse even without them, although their aid does result in
better cleansing. It is like adding sugar to milk. How can there
be purity of mind if the heart and soul are not there in
yajna, mediatation, penance etc.? Bhakti is nothing
butsuch involvement of the heart and soul.

All the vikarmas stand in need
of the aid of bhakti. It is the ultimate means. It is no
doubt advisable that a man trained in nursing and having knowledge
of different remedies should be deputed to take care of a patient;
but if he lacks genuine empathy and compassion, he cannot render
true service. A bullock may be strong and stout, but it would not
pull a cart if it does not wish to. It will then refuse to step
ahead and may even land the cart in a ditch. Work without
involvement of heart and soul—without heartfelt empathy and
concern—can give neither satisfaction nor strength.

33. Bhakti
Results In Pure And Unalloyed Bliss

If we have bhakti, we could
see the art of that great artist; we could see the brush with
which He paints. Once we have reached the source of all creation
and have tasted the rare sweetness of water from the spring at
the very source, we cannot but find all other things insipid and
worthless. A man who has tasted a real banana would appreciate
the beauty of a painted wooden banana for a moment, and then
will put it aside. He will not be much enamoured by it. A man
who has tasted true joy would not be taken in by external
pleasures in the material world.

Once, some people told a
philosopher, “Sir, there
is festive lighting of lamps in the city today. Let us go and
watch it.” The
philosopher said, “What
is it after all? Only an arrangement of a lot of lamps in rows,
is it not? I can visualize it from here itself.”
In an arithmetical progression like 1+2+3...., figures can be
written up to infinity. But there is no need to write all the
numbers if the difference between two succeeding numbers is
known. Likewise one can visualize the arrangement of lamps in
rows. What is there to be so excited about it? But man does
enjoy such things. He squeezes a lemon in water, adds sugar,
sips the drink and smacks his lips in delight! It is as if the
tongue has nothing else to do than to taste different things.
From different ingredients man creates a variety of food
products and finds all the pleasure in eating them! When I was
a child, I once went to see a movie. I had taken a mat with me
so that I could go to sleep whenever I wanted. I could watch the
dazzling pictures barely for a few moments. My eyes got tired
and I went to sleep, asking my companion to wake me up when the
show was over. Instead of going out in the open and watching the
moon and the stars and enjoying the peace and serenity of
nature, people go to congested theatres and excitedly applaud
the dance of the bright moving pictures there. I just failed to
understand that!

Why is man so devoid of joy that
he seeks and finds some sort of momentary and illusory joy in
the dance of those lifeless figures? Evidently, there is no
real joy in life; that is why people go in for such artificial
amusements. Once I heard drums beating next door. On enquiry, I
learnt that it was to celebrate the birth of a son. Now, what is
there so special about it that it should be announced to the
world with the beat of drums? People even dance with joy and
invite singers to sing on such occasions. Is it not childish?
It is as if the world is famished of joy. Just as in the famine
people rush in a frenzy at the sight of a few eatables, they
jump at the slightest opportunity like the birth of a child or a
cinema or a circus show, because they are starved of joy.

But is this true joy? Waves of music
enter the ears and strike the brain. Different forms enter the eyes
and strike the brain. The impact of such sensations is the only
source of joy for the poor fellows. Some stuff their noses with
snuff, some smoke tobacco, and the kick they get thereby is a source
of tremendous joy to them. Their joy knows no bounds when they lay
their hands on a cigarette butt! Tolstoy has written that a man may
even commit murder under the influence of tobacco. It too is a kind
of intoxication.

Why does man lose himself in such
pleasures? Not knowing the real thing, he is infatuated with the
shadows. His pleasures are confined to those derived from the five
senses. Had he got a sense-organ less, he would have thought that
there are only four types of pleasures. If tomorrow a man with six
sense-organs comes down from Mars, such people would feel dejected
at the thought that they can have pleasure only from five
sense-organs instead of six and envying the man from Mars they would
exclaim, “What a handicap we
human beings on the earth suffer from!”

How can man, with just five senses
comprehend fully the meaning of creation in all its aspects?
Restricted to five senses, he makes his choices within those limits
and derives joy from what the senses offer him. He considers the
braying of a donkey inauspicious. But is it not possible that an
encounter with a man could be equally inauspicious for a donkey?
You think that its braying will spoil or harm something that you are
going to do. But is it not true that you could also be causing harm
to others? When I was a student at Baroda, a group of European
singers once came to our college. They were good singers and were
trying their best. But I, being thoroughly bored, was waiting for an opportunity to slip out. I was not used to listening to that sort
of music. I could not appreciate it. Singers from our country may
face a similar response in Europe. What is sweet music to the ears of
one is just noise for the other. It means that the joy it gives is
not real joy; it is an illusory joy. Until we experience real joy,
such illusory joy would enthrall us. So long as he had not tasted
real milk, Aswatthama5used to drink water mixed with grain
flour, believing it to be milk. Once the true nature of things is
revealed to you and you experience the true joy therein, everything
else will pale into insignificance.

Bhakti is the best
way to discover true joy. As we advance on this path, we shall
discover the ingenuity of the Creator. Once we have grasped that
divine vision, attraction for other fancies will recede. Then
nothing trivial will attract us. The whole world will then be
found filled with one undifferentiated joy. There may be
hundreds of sweetmeat shops, but the sweets they sell are of the
same kind. So long as we have not tasted the real thing, we go
on pecking a sweetmeat here and a sweetmeat there like restless
sparrows, and still remain unsatisfied. Once I was reading
Tulsidas’ Ramayana in
the early morning hours. Moths had gathered near the lamp. A
house-lizard came there. What interest it could have in the
Ramayana? It was happy at the sight of the moths. I waved it
away when it was about to pounce on a moth, but its attention
was still riveted on that moth. I asked myself,
“Would you eat a moth? Does your mouth water at its
sight?” The sight of a
moth was not mouth-watering for me; and the house-lizard had no
inkling of the great joy in the Ramayana. It could not taste the
sweetness of the Ramayana. Our condition is like that
house-lizard. We are engaged in a multitude of enjoyments; but
how nice will it be if we could taste true joy! The Lord
has shown us the way of bhakti as the means to taste
true joy.

34. Bhakti For
Gains Too Has Value

The Lord has mentioned three kinds
of devotees (bhaktas): (i) one who has desire for some
worldly gains. (ii) one who is desireless, but whose bhakti
has not blossomed fully. (iii) Jnani, or the man of
wisdom, whose bhakti has blossomed fully. The second type
consists of three sub-types: (i) one who is restless and
impatient for God’s
grace (ii) the seeker of knowledge (iii) the seeker of the
well-being of all. These are different branches of the tree of
bhakti.

A devotee with desires in mind prays
for some gains. I would not despise such bhakti, considering
it inferior. Many people take to social service to earn name and
fame. What is wrong in it? Give them honour unreservedly; there is
no harm in it. That honour would eventually settle them in social
service. They would begin to find joy in their work. Why, after all,
does a man desire recognition and honour? It is because he is
thereby convinced about the utility and excellence of his work. One
who has no inner yardstick to judge the worth of his service depends
on such external yardsticks. When a mother pats her child, the child
gets enthused to do more work for her. This is also true for this
type of bhakti. Such bhaktas should straightway go to
the Lord and ask Him to give what he wants. To make demands on God
for everything is no ordinary thing; it is something rare. Jnanadeva
asked Namdeva, “Will you
accompany me on a pilgrimage?” “But
why go on a pilgrimage?”,
asked Namdeva. Jnanadeva replied, “We
can thereby meet a number of saints and ascetics.”
Namdeva said, “Let me ask
the Lord.” He went to the
temple and stood before the Lord. With eyes rivetted on the Lord’s
feet and tears flowing down his cheeks, he asked,
“O Lord! Should I go on a
pilgrimage?” Would you call
Namdeva an idiot? Not a few people are anguished by separation from
their wives, but a bhakta who weeps at the idea of going away
from the Lord is out of the ordinary. Because of ignorance, he does
not seek what he ideally should; but even then his bhakti is
not to be dismissed out of hand.

Women take a number of vows with
an idea of accumulating merit so that they can have God’s
grace after death. This may be a silly idea, but they do undergo
hardships willingly for that purpose. Great men are born in
families with such tradition of piety and devotion. Swami
Ramtirtha was a descendent of Tulsidas, the great scholar and
poet. He was well-versed in the Persian language, but had no
knowledge of Sanskrit. Someone commented,
“You are a descendent of
Tulsidas; how is it that you do not know Sanskrit?”
This comment went straight to Ramtirtha’s
heart. Reminder of ancestry had a powerful effect. It impelled
Ramtirtha to take up the study of Sanskrit. We should not,
therefore, make fun of the women’s
ways of bhakti. Children born in families where
tradition of bhakti is built up have a rare brilliance.
That is why the Lord says, “Even
if my bhakta is desirous of some gains, I shall make his
faith steadfast. I shall not create confusion in his mind. If he
earnestly prays for the cure of his disease, I shall cure it,
supporting his will to health. Whatever may bring him to Me, I
shall lovingly encourage him.”
When the child prince Dhruva was pushed aside from his father’s
lap by his step-mother, his mother asked him to seek from the
Lord a place from which nobody could push him aside. Dhruva
started penance in all earnestness. Pleased with his penance,
the Lord granted him a permanent abode from which he could never be dislodged.6 The
mind may not
be desireless;
so what?
To whom you approach, to whom you pray is
important. It is important to have inclination to beseech the
Lord for something rather than prostrating before the world.

Whatever be the ground, do enter
the temple of bhakti. Your entry into it will mark a new
beginning. Even if the desires are initially there, they will
eventually fade away. In khadi exhibitions the organisers
urge people, “Please
come and just have a look at the fine specimens of khadi
available now.” People
visit the exhibition, get impressed and start thinking about
wearing khadi. Similar is the case with bhakti.
Once you enter the temple of bhakti, you will discover
its power and beauty for yourself.

When Dharmarajreached the gate of heaven, there
was only a dog with him. All of his brothers—Bheema, Arjuna etc.—had
fallen by the wayside.7Dharmaraj
was told at the entrance,
“You
are welcome; but not the dog.”Dharmaraj said, “If
my dog is not allowed to enter, I too will not enter.”
Even a despised creature like a dog is superior to those who have
inflated egos, if it is faithful and serves with total devotion. The
dog proved to be superior even to Bheema and Arjuna. Even an insect
that moves towards God is greater than the worthies who have not
turned towards Him. In the Shiva temples, there are images of Nandi,
the bull. Everybody bows before the Nandi also. It is not an
ordinary bull; it is the Lord’s bull sitting in front of Him. Hence
it is superior to the most intelligent amongst men. Even an idiot
with God in his heart deserves respect and adoration from the whole
world.

Once I was travelling by a train.
When it was passing over a bridge across the river Yamuna, a
passenger, visibly charged with emotions, threw a coin in the
river. A rationalist sitting nearby commented,
“The country is poor;
still these people waste money in this way!”
I said, “You have not
understood the motivation of that man. Look at the feelings with
which he threw that coin. Are they not worth even a farthing? We may grant that the coin could have been utilized for a better
purpose. But this devout man felt that God’s
compassion itself was flowing in the form of the river and threw
the coin as a mark of sacrifice. Has this feeling any place in
your economics? Emotions welled up in that man’s
heart at the sight of a river in the country. If you could
appreciate this sentiment, I would rate you as a true lover of
the country.” What,
after all, does patriotism mean? Does it have to do with
material betterment only? In fact, it is the height of
patriotism to feel impelled to offer one’s
entire wealth to a great river in the country. What we call
money or wealth—the pieces of yellow and white metal and the
so-called precious stones produced from the secretions of the
insects—is, in fact, only worthy of being offered to the river.
Consider all that wealth as mere dust before the feet of the
Lord. You may ask, ‘What
is the relation between the river and the Lord’s
feet?’ Has God a place
in your scheme of things? For you, river-water is nothing but
the combination of oxygen and hydrogen; the sun is nothing but a
bigger-sized gas burner. You find nothing worthy of reverence
therein! Should one then bow only before the bread and
butter—things of narrow economic utility? But what is a bread
after all? It is nothing but a sort of white clay. Why do you
then relish it so much? If divine presence is not felt in the
rising sun or in a flowing river, where else could it be felt?
The poet Wordsworth laments: ‘I
used to dance at the sight of a rainbow. My heart used to
overflow with joy at that sight. Why does this not happen now?
Have I lost the sweetness of my early life?’

In short, even bhakti rooted in
the desire for gains has great value. The feeling of devotion even
in an ignorant man has a value of its own. That is why it can
generate great power. No matter what sort of a person one is,
whatever may be his worth, once he enters the portal of the Lord’s
mansion, he is redeemed. No matter what sort of wood is thrown into
the fire, it burns. Bhakti is an extraordinary way of
sadhana. The Lord encourages bhakti even if it is
accompanied with desires. In due course it will become desireless
and move towards perfection.

35. Desireless
Bhakti: Its Varieties And Fulfilment

Sakaam bhakta (a bhakta
who has desire for some worldly gains) is one type of
bhakta. Now let us have a look at the nishkaam bhakta
i.e. desireless bhakta. As we have seen, his bhakti
could either have blossomed fully or not. The latter type of
bhakta can be further categorized into three sub-types.

The bhakta of thefirst
sub-type craves for the love of the Lord and cries for Him like
Namdeva. He is restless and desperate to embrace the Lord and lay
himself at His feet and have His love showered on him. He examines
every action of his to find out whether there is sincere yearning
and love therein.

The bhakta of the
second sub-type is a seeker of knowledge. Presently such seekers
are rare in our country. Persons of this type will risk their
lives in trying again and again to climb Mount Everest and may
perish in the attempt. Some may go on an expedition to the North
Pole, note down their observations and findings on a piece of
paper and keep that piece in a bottle for the posterity before
embracing death. Some may descend into the womb of a volcano to
learn more about it. But the Indians are so scared of death!
Taking care of the family is for them the greatest achievement;
they have nothing better to do. The bhakta who is a
seeker of knowledge has an irrepressible and insatiable
curiosity. He tries to know the nature and properties of
everything. He too would eventually unite with the Lord.

The bhakta of the
third sub-typehas been called ‘artharthi’—one
who seeks artha. Artha is commonly translated as
money or wealth; but it really means welfare or well-being.
Artharthibhakta judges everything in terms of the
good of society. Whatever he writes, whatever he speaks,
whatever he does, he sees to it that it is for the good of the
world. He dislikes useless or harmful activities. He is indeed
a great soul who is always concerned for the good of the whole
world!His
joy lies solely in the welfare of the world.

Thus, the outlook of the first
sub-type of the partly-blossomed nishkaam bhakta is marked
with love, that of the second sub-type with quest for knowledge and
that of the third sub-type with concern for the well-being of all.

All those belonging to these three
sub-typesare no doubt desireless, but their approach is
not holistic. They approach God either through work or through
love or through knowledge. Lastly, about the fully-blossomed
bhakta. He is a man of wisdom. Whatever he sees, he sees
nothing but different forms of the Lord. In the handsome and the
ugly, in the prince and the pauper, in men and women, in birds
and beasts—everywhere he has the sacred vision of God. Saint
Tukaram’s
prayer to the Lord was, ‘नर
नारी बाळे अवघा नारायण । ऐसें माझें मन करीं देवा ।।’
(‘O
Lord! Orient my mind in such a way that I find You alone in men
and women and children.’)

In Hinduism, there is worship of
serpents, worship of an elephant-headed God8,
worship of even the trees. All this may appear silly. But we find
the height of such ‘madness’
in the fully blossomed bhakta. He sees God in everything, right from
an insect or an ant to the sun and the moon, and his heart overflows
with joy. ‘मग
तया सुखा अंत नाहीं पार । आनंदें सागर हेलावती ।’
(‘Then
the bliss knows no bounds. The ocean of joy surges in the heart.’)

You may say, if you like, that this
magnificent divine vision is an illusion; but such an illusion is
the height of bliss and happiness; it is a treasure of joy. In the
serenity and majesty of an ocean, the man of wisdom sees the glory
of the Lord. In a cow, he sees His tenderness. In earth, he sees His
forgiveness and the capacity to bear. He finds His purity in the
clear sky, His grandeur and splendour in the sun and the moon and
the stars, His delicateness in flowers. Even in an evil man, he sees
the Lord testing and trying him. Thus he is constantly seeing Him
everywhere. Doing so, one day, he ultimately merges into the Lord.

(3.4.32)

References:

Sitar is a
stringed Indian musical instrument.

Modes of Indian
classical music.

'Earth, water,
fire, air, space, mind, reason and ego—these
are the eight fold divisions of My Nature'—Gita 7.4. The
Sankhya philosophy believes in two eternal principles:
Prakriti and Purusha. Prakriti is the
primordial matter or material Nature which consists of three
gunas or constituents viz sattva, rajas and
tamas. Purusha is the inactive, Pure conscience
Being and it is without gunas.

Gita 7.14.
Maya is the creative power of the Lord which creates
illusions. It is maya which makes us forget that we
are Divine. It is the veil that hides the Real from us.

Ashwatthama was
the son of Dronacharya, the teacher of the Kauravas and Pandavas
in the Mahabharata. On account of acute poverty, his
mother used to give him, in the name of milk, grain flour mixed
with water.

Dhruva, according
to this mythological story, became the pole-star which is still
shining in the sky.

Dharmaraj or
Yudhishthir was the eldest among the Pandavas. After the
great Mahabharata war, Pandavas ruled for a few years and then
proceeded to heaven. Lord Yama joined them on the way in
the form of a dog. During the journey, other Pandava
brothers and queen Draupadi died on the way, as they were not
fit to enter heaven.

Ganapati, the
elephant-headed God, the son of Lord Shiva, is the God of
Knowledge.